Conference Paper

An Image-Capable Audio Internet Browser for Facilitating Blind User Access to Digital Libraries.

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Abstract

The Internet now permits widespread access to textual and pictorial material from digital libraries. The widespread use of graphical user interfaces, however, increasingly bars visu- ally handicapped people from using such material. We present here our current work aimed at the adaptation of an Internet browser to facilitate blind user access to digital libraries. The main distinguishing characteristics of this browser are: (1) active user interaction, both for the macro- analysis and micro-analysis of screen objects of interest; (2) use of a touch-sensitive screen to facilitate user interaction; (3) generation of a virtual sound space into which the screen information is mapped; (4) transcription into sounds not only of text, but also of images. Several prototypes have been implemented, and are being evaluated by blind users.

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... Furthermore, because many digital libraries rely on pointers to documents on the Web, it is important that these mechanisms work on Web pages. While these limitations have been recognized for over a decade [1, 3], assistive technology is still challenged by two-dimensional Web page layout designs. For the past 2 years, we have worked on devising better assistive technologies to allow blind people to access the information implicit in document layouts, and to provide them with a user experience closer to that of sighted people. ...
... While most digital libraries research has focused on sighted people, some researchers have focused on blind people. For instance, Pun et al. explored the use of sonification tools to augment Web browsers with the explicit purpose of facilitating the use of digital libraries by blind users [3]. The use of audio has helped many people access the information they need. ...
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